


Who is... Richard Grayson?

by Allain_Kelyarus



Series: Who is... [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Personal Growth, Personal identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:04:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allain_Kelyarus/pseuds/Allain_Kelyarus
Summary: A look inside the character of Dick Grayson and his growth as a person and a hero. A short character study.





	Who is... Richard Grayson?

Richard Grayson. Dick. An acrobat. A flying Grayson. Robin. The original Boy Wonder. The world’s first sidekick. Ward to billionaire Bruce Wayne. Nightwing. A vigilante. Protector of Bludhaven. Batman. A mentor. An older brother.

Dick Grayson was born to fly.

Anyone and everyone who has seen Dick fight—seen him _move_ knows it. Whether consciously or not everyone knows. His parents knew it even before he took his first steps. Dick always loved to be high up. Loved when his feet left the ground. This only grew as he came to know the world around him and watched his parents perform. He knew he was meant to fly. It is simply in his nature. Graceful and light on his feet.

The fear of falling never occurred to him until his parents’ death. Until he saw first hand the dangers of falling in the worst way possible. And for a while he became afraid to fly. Afraid that he to would fall just like his parents. But Dick Grayson was not meant to stay rooted to the ground. He was not meant to fear flying. And so, he takes a leap of faith one day and slowly he relearns the feeling of the wind in his hair with adrenaline rushing through his body as he lands only to launch himself into the air again. He remembers why he loves flying through the air and vows to never give it up again.

His inborn talent came in handy as he began his crime fighting career alongside Bruce. Bruce knew the boy was born to fly. He saw how he lived to be up in the air and he made use of this when teaching him. Dick has always been special. His innate talents so unique to him that those who came after could not even dream of replicating his skills. The bar was set and made unattainable for those not like him. Perhaps Jason knows this the best being the first to inherit the title of Robin.

Independence and personal identity have been key factors in his growth.

Finding his wings and learning who he wants to be in the world are essential points in his life. The fights with Bruce and development as Nightwing are proof of that. Working with the Teen Titans and learning to be a leader lead him to becoming an excellent tactician and has proved useful time and time again. The time spent with Clark away from Bruce gave him his name as well as solidified his leaving the nest.

For Dick knowing who he is and where he fits in the world is extremely important to him. While his career as Robin taught him lots of things it also placed him in the shadow of Bruce which is something that still defines him to this day. “Trained by the Batman”, “He is _one_ of Batman’s kids”, “He gets it from Batman”. Taking on Batman’s role weighs him down not just with the pain of Bruce’s “death” but also the dampening of his sense of self. His wings become restrained in the role of Batman because Batman does not have wings. Bruce was not born to fly like Dick so the shoes he leaves to be filled lack a place for them.

Dick was born to fly and anything less leaves him broken and empty.

**Author's Note:**

> This came out more angsty than I intended... Oh well the Batfam all live in angst anyway. I feel like it also got away from me somewhere in the middle. Hopefully it still makes some sense.
> 
> Comments and kudos are loved and greatly appreciated.


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